


close encounters

by yanjunslut



Category: NCT (Band), NCT Dream
Genre: Crack honestly, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Nct dream ensemble - Freeform, OT7 NCT Dream, Sheer stupidity, alien expert renjun, donghyuck claims to find an alien, dream are clowns, fluff towards the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 20:15:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21398017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanjunslut/pseuds/yanjunslut
Summary: Jaemin continues to coo against the window. “He’s so cute I’m gonna cry,” he whines, miming punching the glass. “How did you find a sexy alien just wandering the streets of Melbourne, Donghyuck?”He moves to shake Donghyuck’s shoulders. “What friggin’ god did you pray to?!”Donghyuck enlists his friends' help to help deal with a possible alien sighting. chaos and clownery ensues
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan / Mark Lee
Comments: 12
Kudos: 149





	close encounters

**Author's Note:**

> this is set in melbourne, not really incredibly impactful, but definitely noticeable 
> 
> this is probably the most ridiculous thing ive ever written and its 5 am and i havent read over it so if its sheer insanity drop me a comment on what i missed hhghlhgl
> 
> ily all <3

Renjun looks deeply into Donghyuck’s wide brown eyes and presses a reassuring touch to his friend’s knee as Jeno asks, “Donghyuck, are you absolutely certain you haven’t been into Johnny’s weed again?”

“AGAIN?”

Johnny, Donghyuck’s older, American roommate, yells through the wall separating their rooms, accompanied by a bang against the wall.

“NO,” Donghyuck screams back, banging the wall for good measure. He pins Jeno with a glare. “Shut your whore mouth,” he hisses. “Or I’ll tell him you were the one who switched out his Vodka for water.”

Jeno scoffs. “That was you.”

“You have like, no proof.”

“Okay, shut up!” Renjun darts away to grab a pack of chips of the bench then flops down between them on Donghyuck’s small blue couch. He swings a leg over both their laps, tugging the open chip packet just beneath his chin so he can stuff his face without Donghyuck screeching abut excess crumbs on his ‘clean’ couch. “Let’s rehash this before we leap to extra-terrestrial conclusions, because I just don’t think it’s realistic that an alien would contact any of you before _me_.”

Donghyuck sticks his tongue out. “Well one did so _there_.”

“Bullshit.”

“Shut up,” Jeno says, frowning. “Nana hasn’t texted back yet.”

Renjun eyes him. “You’re calling him Nana now?”

“What? No.”

“You just did.”

“Is this a thing or something?” Donghyuck interrupts, gesturing vaguely between them.

“Yes,” Renjun grins as Jeno grits out, “_no_.”

Donghyuck throws his hands up.

“So I can date him?”

“No.”

“Too bad,” Renjun says, eyes glinting. “I’m gonna ask him out.”

Jeno’s head snaps up. “What?”

“I told you ages ago I wanted to and you have made zero progress.” Renjun shrugs as Donghyuck looks on in awe. “Being friends for fifteen years won’t hold me back any longer. Jaemin is hot and that’s that.”

Before Jeno can reply, his screen lights up again with a text from ‘Nana <3’. Renjun’s brows shoot up while Jeno opens the message:

_Nana <3 : if I eated soap. I don’t eat it bc I did. No I didn’t <3_

The two stare at the phone dumbstruck until Jeno grabs it. “Jaemin you stupid fuck-”

“I think we’re done here.” Renjun snatches the phone from Jeno’s grasp and presses dial.

After two rings, Jaemin’s hysterical laughter floats into the room.

“For the love of god,” Donghyuck mutters, eyes rolled skyward. “You didn’t mention he was out of his mind.”

“He has his moments,” Renjun says, resigned. He holds the phone limply, as if to detach himself from Jaemin’s nonsense as much as possible. “Whenever you’re ready, your highness.”

With a final hiccup, Jaemin clears his throat. _“Present.”_

His voice is still thick with laughter, so Renjun waits for him to further compose himself. The sound of water running travels through the phone, followed by what he imagines to be Jaemin chugging a full glass.

Donghyuck leans across the couch with a look of distaste, voice lowered to a whisper, “this is the one you two-”

“Silence,” Jeno says, and then Jaemin’s voice fills the room again.

“_Hey, everyone_,” he giggles again. “_How can I help you out tonight_?”

“You are not the phone sex operator you think you are,” Donghyuck says flatly. To a grinning Renjun and red-faced Jeno he mouths, _“I am far from impressed.”_

Jeno leans over the phone. “We need a favour.”

_“Anything, baby.”_

“For the love of god,” Donghyuck says as Jeno sags back against the couch.

“I’m gonna cut to the chase,” Renjun continues, “our friend Donghyuck claims to have found an alien.”

A high peal of laughter follows. “_Told you that bitch was crazy, he has those EYES, you know_?”

“And I’m 99% sure you’re a serial killer but I’ve kept my suspicions to myself thus far,” Donghyuck snaps.

“_Ooh, feisty_.”

“Listen you little shit-”

“Calm down,” Renjun says, while Jeno remains mute beside him.

“_I’m not sure I want to help anymore_,” Jaemin says teasingly, and the three boys collectively look like they would like to die, but for entirely different reasons. “_What’s this for again_?”

“A guy from… Tarantino…” Jeno decides to say.

“Tarantino is a film maker, idiot,” Donghyuck sniffs. “He said Tawrawnno. I guess it’s really far away.”

“…. _Okay_.”

Renjun clears his throat. “So, the basement?”

“_It’s free_.”

“That’s him? The alien?”

Jaemin had ventured out of his house and down the street to meet Jeno, Renjun and Donghyuck at the McDonalds around the corner from Donghyuck’s university dorm. He wears a long red hoodie over the top of barely visible shorts, and no shoes at all, likely because the weather is close to forty degrees even now at seven p.m. Pink fluffy hair pokes out from underneath the hood, and he flashes his permanent full-gums bright smile at them all.

Renjun watches him silently before digging Jeno in the ribs. “Isn’t that your hoodie?”

Jeno says nothing.

_“Bitch.” _

“Yeah, that’s him,” Donghyuck says nervously. “I didn’t know what to do with him but Maccas is a pretty safe place to leave him, right?”

“Until the ice cream machine breaks down, I guess so,” Jaemin concedes. “Oh shit, he’s looking up- wait- he’s kinda cute-”

Renjun and Jeno glance at each other in horror while Donghyuck turns to give them a sly smile.

Jaemin continues to coo against the window. “He’s so cute I’m gonna cry,” he whines, miming punching the glass. “How did you find a sexy alien just wandering the streets of Melbourne, Donghyuck?”

He moves to shake Donghyuck’s shoulders. “What friggin’ god did you pray to?!”

Donghyuck unhinges himself quickly. “I don’t know, he just asked what my building was and it went from there like he just appeared,” he turns and jabs in the direction of his dorm, “there.”

Jaemin stares at him in fascination. “I have a newfound respect for you. Now I’m going to meet this beautiful creature.”

He turns on heel and heads for the door, only for Donghyuck to grab him by the hoodie strings, yank him behind himself and march over to the table first, with the other two following behind and trying to trip each other up.

“Hello, Mork,” Donghyuck says tentatively.

The boy looks up at him, and breaks into a smile, albeit with slightly creased brows. He is attractive; all tanned skin and big brown eyes and swept up black hair like some kind of old movie star. _Too attractive_, Renjun decides with narrowed eyes, finally understanding Donghyuck’s surety of an alien discovery. He assesses Mork’s suspiciously normal attire of green hoodie and black shorts with narrowed eyes. _Strategically chosen to assimilate with the human population_. _Very clever_.

“Soooo…”

“Oh, right,” Donghyuck flushes. He gestures at the other boys. “These are my friends, Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin. Did you wanna come hang out with us at Jaemin’s house? Just drinks and some games, or a movie or something, I don’t know if they do that back where you’re from-”

Mork jumps up from his seat eagerly. “Yeah of course, I’d love to. Been super bored since I got here, so it would be nice to make some friends.”

“Oh great,” Donghyuck visibly relaxes. He watches as Mork takes his tray over to the bin.

“Nice manners,” comments Jaemin. “By the way, Chenle and Jisung are in the basement already. Actually, they’ve been there all day. Mum told me they couldn’t stay over after Sunday because she’s studying her degree and we were too loud but we slept in so late today because we stayed up all night playing Mario Kart and then they were too scared to walk past her so. They’re still in there. It’s basically self-enforced house arrest really.”

Jeno wrinkles his nose. “What about their mums?”

“They think they’re doing an important presentation at each other’s’ houses. I think they forgot I’m still friends with them because I’ve been so busy with uni I haven’t gone over to their houses, they just keep coming to mine.”

Renjun laughs. “You mean you were such a clown in high school they were glad you graduated and they’re hoping you don’t distract their sons from graduating with good grades.”

“Not my fault everyone only wants me for my body,” Jaemin pouts, wiping away non-existent tears. “I’m smart too.”

“Chenle and Jisung only want you for your games, don’t fool yourself.”

Jaemin gasps, a palm dramatically placed against his chest. “Jeno Lee, you wound me.”

Jeno turns on heel and walks back to the exit.

“You’re ridiculous,” Renjun says fondly.

“You love it.”

“Shit man, you’re seriously good at this,” Jisung says to Mork, watching the alien-boy dominate the Mario Kart track with ease. He arches a brow. “Are you sure you’re not cheating?”

Mork barks out a laugh. “No, how the heck would I cheat?”

_“_Ah, they still say ‘heck’ back where he lives,” Chenle whispers solemnly to Renjun from their place on the second couch in Jaemin’s basement. “I guess they get trends a little later than us.”

“I don’t know, with your powers or something,” Jisung shrugs, finishing in second place behind Mork for the third time in a row. He raises his controller. “Anyone else want a shot at beating our resident champion?”

“Fuckin’_ me_,” Jaemin bites his lip and lunges forward, only to be restricted by both Renjun’s and Jeno’s arms round his waist.

“Chenle, go play,” Jeno says, and then Jaemin is slotted in between the two in Chenle’s place.

“That’s Donghyuck’s man,” Renjun says reprovingly. “This is one man whose heart you can’t steal, mister.”

Jaemin slips off the couch lightning-fast, then turns back to look at both of them. “As long as it’s only Mork I can’t have, I guess I can deal.” He bounds across the room to Donghyuck, who is perched on the edge of the other couch, transfixed on Mork, and begins whispering in his ear.

“So,” Renjun turns to Jeno, and becomes a little flustered to find his best friend already looking at him. “…what do you think that meant?”

Jeno continues to stare, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I think I’m just beginning to figure that out.”

Renjun feels more puzzled than ever.

Sometime after ten, the boys run out of snack and drinks and venture upstairs to the kitchen in search of sustenance. In the rush out the door, Donghyuck somehow manages to trap Mork’s finger in the basement door for one painful second.

“Jesus!” Mork yelps, immediately shoving his injured finger into his mouth to suck on it.

“Shhh,” Jaemin hisses, a finger to his lips. “Mum will neck us all if she finds _any of you here_.”

“I’m sorry, fuck,” Donghyuck whispers frantically. He points to the lounge in the living room. “Go sit there, I’ll be right back.”

“Thank God Mum went to bed early,” Jaemin mutters.

Donghyuck grabs a tea towel off the bench and hastily retrieves some ice from the freezer, then tip-toes quickly back to poor Mork, who sits carefully on the lounge.

“He said Jesus, didn’t he? So Christianity left Earth?” Chenle frowns. “It’s just non-stop all the way off the globe with those people isn’t it?”

“Bizarre,” Jaemin agrees, inspecting the fridge for more drinks. “There’s fuck all left in here, man. I hate VB. Dad has terrible taste in beer.”

“All beer is revolting,” Renjun says decisively.

“Well, yes, but this is the lowest of the low. Let’s go get some more. That place by Woollies is open till eleven, we’ve got forty minutes, give or take.”

Jeno enters the kitchen, catching the tail-end of the conversation. “Forty minutes to do what?”

Fifteen minutes later, the group of seven wind up down the street, all of them getting drinks at the Bottle-O save Jisung, who is in 7-eleven getting snacks. Renjun and Jaemin are in the aisle closest to the door, attempting to kick Chenle out of the store before an attendant asks to see his ID and sees that he is not eighteen, which will inevitably lead to none of them getting anything (it’s happened before).

“But this is Australiaaa,” Chenle whines. “No one actually waits to be legal that’s a myth. An ideal. It’s not real.”

“The law is quite real,” Renjun says wryly.

“Funny how it wasn’t real up until right now.”

“Miraculous isn’t it.”

“Australian drinking culture is really bad, Chenle,” Jaemin interjects.

“Yeah? Then put down that twenty-four case.”

Jaemin crumples. “It’s… for Dad.”

“Fuck off.”

Renjun sighs. “Can’t you just be like Jisung and wait outside? We’ll give you some just fuck off before the attendant sees your ID and sells to _none_ of us.”

“All you had to say,” Chenle cackles, thankfully leaving before any attendants came over.

“Good lord.”

“Indeed,” Jeno agrees, suddenly standing between Renjun and Jaemin and making them both jump.

“Where did you come from?”

Jeno gestures vaguely behind him. “Over there. Say, has Donghyuck lost his tongue or what? His smart ass has shrivelled into some awkward shell of himself.”

“Don’t tell him he’s shrivelled, he won’t like that,” Jaemin says, but he’s giggling softly as he cranes his neck to look at the pair in the back shelves. Donghyuck is almost hovering by Mork’s side, cradling a couple of drinks in his arms with a deer-in-the-headlights expression. “He’s whipped.”

“Mmm.” A hint of a smile forms at the corners of Jeno’s mouth, but Renjun unnervingly realises it is he whom Jeno is smiling at. “He is.”

They pause by the park on the way home, Mork declaring he wants to go on the slide and everyone else finding a late-night park trip a great idea. They open a few drinks and stretch out over the playground, relaxing (Renjun, Jaemin, Jeno, Mork), sitting awkwardly (Donghyuck) and wrestling (Chenle and Jisung).

After a few minutes, Mork pulls out his iPhone.

“You got that thing quickly,” Jisung comments from his position atop Chenle, pausing for a moment from raining down beatings on the older boy.

The screen light shows Mork’s confused expression. “My phone? I’ve had it ages. I wanna upgrade.”

“Me too,” Jisung shrugs and returns to beating a shrieking Chenle.

Jaemin rests his chin on Donghyuck’s shoulder to look at Mork’s phone. “Oh, you’re on twitter! What are you looking at?”

“Memes, mostly.”

“Oh, mood. Wait what the fuck is that?”

“Huh? Oh, the milk?” Mork raises his phone for the others to see, revealing a picture of a bag full of milk.

Jeno wrinkles his nose. “In a _bag_? What kind of heathens?”

Mork laughs. “That’s how it is where I’m from.”

“He didn’t mean to disrespect your culture,” Chenle says hastily, shooting Jeno a glare tainted with fear.

“Huh?”

“Maybe that’s footage from his planet,” Chenle whispers, too loudly if Renjun’s glare is anything to go by. “I’m just saying!”

Donghyuck glares at Mork’s screen. He wants to be the first to discover Mork’s planet, not some random @kangdanluvbot on twitter. _God zoomers are fucking annoying._ _And why the fuck is Mork’s feed filled with Kang Daniel pics? More to the point, why the fuck does Mork even have a feed? The fuck? _

He glances up to find Mork looking at him oddly.

“Okay, you guys have been acting really weird,” Mork says, and the six boys all freeze in their positions, fearing they’ve inflicted some foreign wrath upon themselves.

Renjun assumes a blank expression. “What do you mean, Mork?”

“That!” Mork points at him. “Mork, planet, powers- are these some kind of euphemisms you Australians have for us or something?”

“Well, I don’t know that they’re specifically _Australian_,” Chenle says thoughtfully. “I’m pretty sure most aliens in American movies and all that they also say that stuff.”

Jaemin and Jisung nod in agreeance.

“Sound logic,” says Jeno.

“Aliens…” Mork bites his lip, puzzled. “You mean like foreigners? Like how I said to Donghyuck this afternoon I felt really _alien_ in Melbourne?”

The group whirl on Donghyuck, waiting for him to speak.

“I didn’t think anyone was actually this dumb!” Mork explodes, throwing his hands up. “People always tell me I’m dumb as bricks but you guys,” he shakes a finger at them insistently, “you guys take the goddamn CAKE!”

The boys stare at the ground in shame, or Jeno does at least. Jisung doesn’t really seem to be thinking anything at all, but is very engrossed in a small brown snail making its way across the stone near Mark’s foot. He hopes Mork doesn’t crush it.

Renjun wonders how he- self-professed Velma of the Most Useless Mystery Gang Ever- went along with Donghyuck’s idiocy in the first place. He chalks it up to stress and possible side-effects of his sleeping pills. Beside him, Chenle and Jaemin seem to be doing their best to shuffle behind him, shoulders shaking with barely contained laughter. He wraps a hand round Jaemin’s bicep, preventing escape, and a loud snort erupts from the pink-haired boy.

Mork whirls on him. “Have you no SHAME?”

This sets off Chenle too, and Mark’s face grows redder as the two dissolve into tears of heinous laughter before his very eyes.

“You’re still dumb,” Donghyuck says defiantly, face aflame. “It was your fault your finger got stuck in the door!”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Mork shakes his head. “I can’t believe you’ve just been stringing me along all evening- for what? Some crazy science project? Do you even like me?”

“Of _course_ I do!” Donghyuck panics. “Everything I’ve done, I did for you, Mork!”

“That’s not true,” Mork shakes his head sadly. He pushes Donghyuck’s arm away. “You just wanted to see my planet.”

Renjun slowly lowers himself to the ground, face in his hands.

Donghyuck sighs. “It’s true. I admit it. I did want to see it-”

“See!”

“I wanted to be an explorer and be the first to set foot in Tawrawnno. Ever since I was a kid, I just wanted to be the first to discover new territory. I already missed the dinosaurs, you know?”

Mork’s brows knit in confusion. He meets Renjun’s equally concerned gaze for a moment. “T-”

“LET ME FINISH!”

Mork hesitates, then makes a zipping motion across his mouth.

“As I was saying. I wanted to go down in the history books as the first for making real contact with First Alien Peoples. I even asked Chenle to buy me the new iPhone so our footage would be super good quality.”

“You threatened to tell Mr Kim I cheated in our maths exam if I didn’t!” Chenle yells from where he is now lying beside Jisung on the ground, the latter still studying the snail. “I haven’t even cheated in maths since grade four!”

“The truth on a different day is still the truth at some point in your timeline.”

“Bullshit,” Chenle mutters.

“Be that as it may,” Donghyuck glares round at the group, tired of the interruptions. “I went to plenty of effort. So yes, Mork, I’m sorry I kind of used you but please try to think of eight year old Donghyuck, just trying to make his parents proud.”

“You’re like, nineteen.”

“I’M A CHILD AT HEART, OKAY!”

“OKAY!”

They stand nose to nose, Donghyuck with a fist raised and Mork with arms crossed firmly over his chest, jaw tight. The other boys look on in confusion, save Renjun, who gets to his feet, dusts himself off and makes his way toward them.

He glances between them for a minute, then takes a deep breath. “Donghyuck,” Renjun says carefully. “Did Mark tell you he was from Toronto?”

Mork begins shaking his head emphatically as Donghyuck replies, “no, Tawrawnno.”

“Right.”

Jaemin and Jeno burst into laughter, Chenle joining in a few seconds later. Jisung continues to focus on the snail.

“Donghyuck….”

Donghyuck squints, not liking the tone of Mork’s voice.

“That is Toronto. That’s just my accent.”

A few seconds allow the words to sink in, and Donghyuck’s face rises from Very High to Extreme Heat. He can feel his blood pressure rising as the others laugh harder and harder. “None of you said anything!” He stabs a finger at them accusingly. “If you’re so smart why didn’t you know?”

Renjun shakes his head, coughing as he struggles to speak. “Y- you never- you never said that shit in front of me- we also figured out _at least _two minutes ago that Mark is not a _goddamn_ _alien_!”

Jaemin appears to be unable to breathe, hands wrapped around his middle and gasping for air. Jeno is silently laughing and clapping like a deranged seal. Chenle and Jisung aren’t faring much better.

Mark surveys the lot of them with a feeling of hopelessness. “You are all clowns,” he says with an air of finality. “Absolute clowns.” He turns to Donghyuck. “I guess that’s why you all called me Mork instead of Mark, then.”

Donghyuck collapses then, but before he can hit the ground Mark catches him and slowly lowers him down, then sits beside him, cross-legged.

“You guys are crazy.”

Donghyuck sniffs.

“Like, maniacs. I’m stunned.”

“You don’t have to rub it in,” Donghyuck says, mournfully. “We _know_. _I know_.”

“I’m honestly shell-shocked. I spent this entire time thinking Australians were just extremely oddly-behaved towards foreigners or something.”

“Oh, _God_.”

Mark nods. “Bet.”

“Shut up,” Donghyuck finally raises his face and hits Mark with his jumper sleeve. “It’s been a confusing day.”

“I’ll say,” Mark laughs. “What else got you so twisted? My accent, okay, I guess that clearly led to multiple theories but? What else?”

“You were so ready to come over to my dorm,” Donghyuck blurts out, wishing to disappear. “Going over to people’s dorms when you first meet … and at night… usually means you’re _interested_ in them and… ”

“I’m Christian, not a nun, Jesus, Donghyuck.”

“Oh. _Oh_.” Donghyuck blushes harder than he thought humanly possible. “That’s… interesting.”

“Interesting,” Mark laughs again. “That’s a good starting point I guess.”

“People don’t come over to my place,” Donghyuck says quietly. “My roommate has people over all the time, but… not me. I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

“You felt better equipped to help an alien adjust to earth than talk to a boy?”

“Shut up,” Donghyuck glares. He relents after Mark pouts at him. “Ugh. I can deal with that with my friends, right? After all, Renjun is an alien expert.”

He starts to smile a bit as he says the last part, and Mark smiles warmly at him. “Your friends can help us with all our future extra-terrestrial encounters, but I’d like it to be just us two for some other ones. Maybe. If you want me, that is.”

Donghyuck looks up at him, eyes shining. “Yeah?”

“If you want me,” Mark reiterates, and for the first time Donghyuck sees the apples of Mark’s cheeks are dusted a light red, and the boost of confidence he gets from that image leads him to cup Mark’s jaw in one hand and press a soft, shy kiss to the Canadian boy’s cheek.

He looks up at Mark through his lashes, smiling happily. “I do.”

Mark stares at him, wide-eyed. “Shit.”

They make their way back to Jaemin’s house after that, sneaking back down to the basement just before midnight. Chenle and Jisung curl up in their usual place in their sleeping bags right in front of the TV, knowing they’ll be up before everyone else and wanting to play Mario Kart. Mark and Donghyuck unfold their own sleeping bags just behind the younger two, careful to leave some spaced for Jisung’s kicking.

Renjun, Jaemin and Jeno pull the two couches into the centre of the room and put them together to resemble a sort of boat. Renjun and Jeno began the tradition of doing so when they were in early primary school, and after Jaemin transferred to their school in year seven they quickly befriended him, leading him to join them.

“Do you think, maybe,” Renjun whispers, careful not to stir the other boys, “just maybe we’re a bit too big to be sleeping together on these couches anymore?”

Jaemin wriggles about as if to prove Renjun’s point, unable to move much from where he is tightly sandwiched between the other two boys. “No shit,” he giggles quietly. “I’m well and truly pinned between you both.”

“We like you just so.”

“Jeno Lee!” Renjun hisses and leans over Jaemin to slap their best friend.

“You were thinking it,” Jeno says, a smile in his voice. “Both of you.”

“Crickets,” says Renjun, but Jaemin is giggling again.

“I think we just need bigger couches,” Jeno continues. “We’ll get some new ones, and then everything will be perfect.”

They go silent for a moment, thinking it over.

After a few moments, Jaemin speaks up quietly. “Remember when I got really upset a few years ago?”

“You’ll have to be more specific,” Renjun whispers mockingly.

“Shut up,” Jeno chastises, clearly finding it funny.

“Quiet, both of you,” Jaemin orders. “In year twelve, when I stopped letting you guys come over for a few months before Christmas.”

He pauses, giving them time to remember.

“The months leading up to exams,” Renjun remembers. “We didn’t come over again until graduation night.”

“Mmm, I remember,” Jeno hums. “I thought it was because of exams study and stress.”

“I wish,” Jaemin says wistfully. “But no. I guess… the first few years together I didn’t think too deeply about our friendship. We’re kids in early high school, I just lived in the moment and didn’t think much of it. But later on, I started to wonder if you guys ever felt like I was somehow… intruding… I guess. Like you fit together for so many years before I became friends with you. And I started to feel like me sleeping in between you was forcing you to make room for me. In every way.”

“Nana, no,” Renjun gasps, searching for Jaemin’s hand under the blankets. He finds it and threads their fingers together. “That’s never been it.”

On Jaemin’s right, Jeno wraps an arm gently round Jaemin’s waist and nudges his chin into the space between Jaemin’s neck and shoulder. “No Nana,” he murmurs reassuringly, “never, never, never.”

Jaemin sighs deeply. “Don’t worry. I know, really. I figured it out back then.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s always going to be the three of us,” Jaemin says matter-of-factly. “Jeno, Renjun, Jaemin. NoRenMin. I realised I’m not the gap between you. I’m just me and we fit together like so. And you proved it to me when you came back home and just got back into our little couch bed like nothing happened. Being in love with you, that was the best graduation gift ever.”

He steels himself as a faint rush of breath sounds from Renjun beside him, and Jeno’s grip on his waist instinctually tightens. _It’s not the worst, _ Jaemin repeats in his head, _you can just say you meant as friends, in love with your friends in a completely friend way-_

“I wondered who would crack first,” Jeno chuckles.

Renjun begins laughing quietly, still a little shocked. “Me, too. Fuck.”

“No one’s as brave as our Nana, though,” Jeno says, pressing a kiss to Jaemin’s fluffy pink hair. He reaches with his other hand to hold Renjun’s. “But I’m probably the worst, because I’ve been in love with both of you since I first met you.”

Renjun swallows. “Uh… going to be very honest it took me… a hell of a lot longer to figure out what I feel for either of you.”

Jaemin squeezes his hand. “You don’t have to feel anything than what you already do. We’ll understand.”

“We will.”

Renjun bursts into laughter, too loud, prompting Jaemin and Jeno to scramble up and bat at him with pillows until he subsides, both equally fearful of inciting Donghyuck’s or Jaemin’s mother’s wrath.

“You idiots,” Renjun giggles, “it just took me ages because I hate admitting I have crushes. I’m in love with both you fools-”

He never gets to finish his sentence, because Jaemin and Jeno leap on him and smatter him in what feels like a billion butterfly kisses, but Renjun doesn’t think he has anything left to say that can fully translate the burning love in his soul that the three of them fall asleep together with, hands intertwined and keeping each other warm above the blankets with body heat alone.

**Author's Note:**

> um so can we say clowns with some cuteness 
> 
> hope u enjoyed mwah <333 any kudos and comments appreciated always 🥺
> 
> edit: might fuck around and do a part 2?? maybe?? idk


End file.
